Criminal Minds: Katie Brooke Hotchner
by MissOneDayAmericanDream
Summary: Criminal Minds from a new agent's point of view. Read to find out more...


CRIMINAL MINDS

**Disclaimer: This goes for all chapters, I do not own anything created by or previously seen on the show Criminal Minds; all of this belongs to the writers, directors, producers etc. of the show. I own Katie Brooke Hotchner and anything you don't recognise from the original show.**

**So… new story. Hope you like it.**

**Summary: Criminal minds with my own original character. Let's see where it goes.**

Joseph Conrad said "The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary. Men alone are quite capable of every wickedness".

I've spent years of my life training to catch these men. My name is Katie Hotchner, my brother, Aaron, is a Supervisory Special Agent in the BAU for the FBI; the unit I've just been transferred to. My first case with them starts tonight.

I ran a hand through my curly blonde hair as I stepped out of the black SUV dropping me off at the airport. I watched the agents climb into the private jet with their cases. Nerves started jittering slightly in the pit of my stomach mixed with excitement; this is what I've been training for.

"Katie." My older brother, Aaron was coming toward me with a smile on his face.

"Aaron, hey." I smiled and hugged him when he got to me.

"Congratulations on making the team." He said with a proud smile. "You ready?"

"I was born for this." I replied confidently.

"Well come on then, I'll introduce you to everyone." He led me over to the plane.

It was warm and bright inside as appose to the cool night air.

"The new girl." A good looking black guy smirked when I stepped in.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet my sister, Special Agent Katie Hotchner."

"Hi, I'm Spencer Reid." A cute young man stood and shook my hand with a smile.

"Hey." Was my casual reply.

"I'm Morgan, Derek Morgan." The black man smiled.

"And this is Jason Gideon." Aaron gestured to the quite well known man.

"Hello." Gideon said without looking up from the file he was studying. Aaron gave a frustrated sigh.

"Now introductions are over we'll brief you on the case." Aaron instructed, I took a spare seat next to Reid.

"They're calling this guy the 'Seattle Strangler', he's taken four victims in four months and keeps them alive for seven days before killing them. No physical evidence and no leads." Aaron informed.

"And now there's another girl missing." Reid added.

"Twenty-three year old Heather Woodland." Morgan handed me a picture of her.

"Before she left for lunch she downloaded an email with a time delay virus attached; the virus wiped her hard drive and left this on the system." Aaron handed me a picture of the screen with a message on.

"For heavens sake catch me before I kill more I cannot control myself." I read aloud.

"It's a quote, from the Lipstick Killer in 1945." Gideon elaborated.

"We have fewer than thirty-six hours to find her." Aaron said.

"Well then, let's get to work."

"His first victim was twenty-six year old, Melissa Kirsch, stab wounds, strangulation." Reid began.

"Okay, wait, wait, he stabbed her and then strangled her to finish her off?" Morgan questioned.

"Other way around." Gideon stepped in. "Why do you think he started using the belt with the second murder?"

"Strangulation with your bare hands is not as easy as one would believe, he tried but probably found that it took too long." Reid replied.

"So he stabbed her instead." Morgan finished.

"So he's learning with each kill." I stated.

"That's right, he is learning and perfecting the scenario, becoming a better killer." Gideon agreed.

"Alright, everyone get some rest before we land in Seattle in the morning." Aaron instructed.

Everyone went off to their own seats and I stayed next to Reid. "So, Spencer, how long have you been in the FBI?" I asked, he looked really young. I couldn't say much as I was twenty-five but I was just curious.

"Nearly three years." He replied. "What about you?"

"Nearly a year, I was a field agent in New York before being transferred here. Don't take this offensively but you look really young to have been in the FBI for three years. How old are you?"

"I'm twenty-three." Reid smiled.

"But he's a genius." Morgan smirked from opposite us. "Graduated high school at the age of twelve."

I raised my eyebrows and looked at Reid questioningly. "It's true." He confirmed.

"Wow. Good for you." I smiled sincerely.

"Forgive me for asking, I know most women don't like to be asked there age but you look pretty young yourself." Reid stuttered.

"I'm twenty-five." I laughed "And I'm not most women." I added and nudged him playfully.

"So, we know how Reid got in the BAU so quickly, but what about you?" Morgan asked and it didn't escape my notice that he ever so quickly glanced at Aaron.

"If you're suggesting that Agent Hotchner pulled some strings to get me into the BAU you're wrong. How do you know I'm not a genius?"

"Are you?" Reid asked.

"No. But I'm no fool either. I have Degrees in law, psychology, criminology and sociology, I'm trained in self defence and know how to handle most weapons. I'm here because I work hard and I am damn good at what I do, I put myself in this position, not my brother."

There were a few seconds of silence, out of the corner of my eye I could have sworn I'd seen Gideon smile.

"I like you." Morgan grinned and sat back in his chair.

The next morning we were in the Seattle FBI office.

"This is Special Agent Jason Gideon, Special Agent Derek Morgan, Special Agent Spencer Reid-"

"Dr. Reid." Gideon interrupted Aaron.

"Dr. Spencer Reid, Special Agent Katie Hotchner and after two years busting my butt in this office I hope you remember me." This got a few laughs, I rolled my eyes.

Studying the maps on the wall Gideon clarified "he's willing to travel with the body."

"And he drives a vehicle capable of concealing one." Aaron added.

"One in seven-point-four drivers in Seattle owns an SUV." Reid told us.

"Explorer with tinted windows." Morgan added.

"Explorers rate higher with women." Reid informed.

I studied the pictures of the victims on the wall, all young women in the prime of their lives.

"How do we know it's his car?" Morgan asked. "Ted Bundy drove a VW Bug."

"What about a Jeep Cherokee?"

"Jeeps are more masculine." Reid said.

"He dumped the fourth body just out of state." One of the officers said.

"This shows a background a law enforcement knowledge." I concluded.

"Or that he watches television." Morgan joked.

"Can we have a profile by four o'clock today?" An officer asked.

"Not a problem." Gideon replied.

"Where would you like to start?"

"At the sight of the last murder."

While Gideon and Morgan went to the sight of the last murder I went with Aaron and Reid to visit the missing girl's brother. As soon as we went in a golden Labrador barked a Reid.

"Sandy, no." The red haired man chastised.

"Oh, that's okay, it's what we call the Reid effect; it happens with children too." Aaron laughed.

Reid gave a disapproving look when I laughed too.

"Hey, Sandy." I crouched in front of the dog and scratched its head affectionately, she turned to lick my hand as a sign of approval I supposed, I stood back up when Aaron spoke. "I'm Agent Hotchner, this is Special Agent…" He broke off not wanting to say Hotchner again.

"Katie." I finished for him and shook the man's hand.

"Right, and this is Special Agent Dr. Reid."

"You don't look old enough to have gone to medical school." He commented.

"I have three PhDs." Reid informed.

"What are you, a genius or something?"

"I don't believe intelligence can be accurately quantified but I do have an IQ of 187, an eidetic memory and can read 20,000 words per minute."

The man just stared blankly at Reid.

"There's your answer." I smiled.

"Yes, I'm a genius."

Hotch smiled as me and Reid began to study the apartment. At that moment Sandy barked. "Sandy, you get a lot of attention don't you?" Aaron commented while stroking the dogs head.

"Yeah, Heather loves this dog. I feed her when Heather's away." Her brother told us. "Usually she's fine but lately she won't eat, it's almost like she can sense something's wrong." He said worriedly.

Reid went on to say how the dog can smell a chemical from Heather's brother that shows he's worried, making her worried.

I noticed some car magazines and advertisements lying on a cabinet. "David, does your sister own a car?"

"No, but she's in the market for one."

"If you want to coax someone into your car what would you do?" I asked.

"Offer them a test drive." Aaron clarified.

"Yeah, there's an immediate relationship of trust between a buyer and a seller." Reid agreed.

"Good work, Kate." Aaron praised me.

"Okay, how about the fact that on one hand we have paranoid psychosis, but the autopsy protocol says what?" Morgan questioned.

"Adhesive residue was found on the victims eyes showing layers of tape to blind them." Reid answered while spinning rather childishly on an office chair in one of the FBI conference rooms.

"Normally I would say that the Un/sub doesn't want his identity to be known but…" I started.

"But he knew he was gonna kill them." Morgan finished.

"Exactly. It doesn't make sense." I sighed, frustrated. We were running out of time.

"He also dumps the body out in the open with the weapon nearby; that isn't paranoid behaviour." Morgan added.

"Alright enough, Hotch, tell them we're ready." Gideon ordered from the other side of the room, much to Morgan's disapproval.

"We're ready?" He questioned as Gideon strode out of the room. "Reid, you cool with this? We got a women who's only got a few hours left to live, an incomplete profile and a unit chief on the verge of a nervous breakdown." The last bit was said as Gideon re-entered the room.

"They're not called nervous breakdowns anymore." He left again with a piece of paper and didn't even look at Morgan.

"It's called a major depressive episode." Reid said.

"I know, Reid." Morgan snapped. "What about you, Blondie?" This was directed toward me.

"Blondie?" I questioned, eyebrows raised.

"Well, I can't call you both Hotch now can I? What do you think about this?"

"I think… Gideon's the boss and he knows what he's doing. We should trust him." I said reluctantly but truthfully, to which he stormed out of the room.

I deliberated on whether to follow or not. Aaron seemed to read my mind. "He'll be fine, Kate."

"Yeah, don't worry about, Morgan, he'll get over it." Reid added.

I decided to follow him despite their protests. I caught up to him half way down the corridor. "Morgan! Wait up."

He turned to face me. "What?"

"Hey, don't get pissy with me over this. I'm here to do a job and Gideon is my boss so forgive me if I'm not disagreeing with someone as experienced as him."

"Gideon may not be fit to be in the field anymore, you weren't in Boston, you don't know what happened."

"I know that six agents died and that people blame Gideon for it. But you're right, I don't know what happened so I'm in no position to judge."

"I'm not saying that was Gideon's fault, I'm just saying that to do this job you need to trust your instincts and judging from what you said back there your instincts are going the same way as mine. But if you want to lye down and hope Gideon's profile is right then you do that, but what if it's wrong and we don't do anything about it?" With that he made a dramatic exit, I knew he was right. Not necessarily about Gideon's profile, but me. He was right about me.

After Gideon had given the profile to the local police and FBI agents we had decided on a suspect - Richard Lesman. One of the local agents had come up with the idea to lure him out of his house that night. At the moment I was sat in a car with Reid staking out the guy's house, waiting for Agent Greenaway to approach.

"What's going on with you and Morgan?" He asked me from the passenger side.

"What do you mean?" I pretended to be nonchalant.

"You know what I mean, you can't lie to a profiler." Reid frowned.

I sighed. "He's angry because he thinks Gideon's profile may be wrong and knows that I might agree with him but I won't back him up about it."

"Do you agree with him?"

"I don't not agree with him."

He gave me an annoyed look. "You're dodging the question."

"I am not."

"Then answer it, do you agree with Morgan, yes or no?"

"It's not that simple, Spence."

"Spence?" He raised his eyebrows at the nick name.

"Reid's too formal; thought I'd try it out." I shrugged. "So, you've known Morgan a long time; how long's he gonna be pissed at me?" I turned in my seat toward him.

"Judging by Morgan's first impression of you and his past history in arguments I'd say… between two to three days, if not less." Was his intellectual answer.

"Good to know." I smiled.

"She's approaching." Reid said focusing straight ahead.

I turned and watched Greenaway knock on the door of the house and an old woman answered, a couple of minutes later she left the house with the suspect, he was scrawny and young, probably about the same age as Reid. From where we were we also had a good view of the set up house she would take him into.

Once we saw them enter we both got out of the car and started toward the house, by now he would be in cuffs.

He was being taken out to a police car as we walked up the porch steps and in the front door where we met Hotch, Morgan and Gideon. Me and Hotch went upstairs while Gideon, Reid and Morgan talked to Greenaway. A few minutes later Gideon called Hotch down to look in a garage, I met up with Morgan and Greenaway on the landing. Morgan made a swift exit at my arrival.

"You're the new transfer at the BAU right?" Greenaway asked.

"Yeah, Katie Hotchner." I shook her hand with a smile.

"Elle Greenaway." She replied. "Hotchner? As in Aaron Hotchner?"

"He's my brother." I nodded.

"Oh." Her tone said it all. Reid had told me that this girl wanted in the BAU and she immediately thought I got in because of Aaron; this was really getting old fast. "Got any tips?" She asked.

"Firstly, I didn't get into the BAU because of Aaron. I worked hard to be where I am. Besides, Gideon seems to think you have potential already, you don't need any advice from me." I walked back downstairs to join the others.

We established that Richard Lesman's mother had died in a fire when he was thirteen, there was a Jeep in his garage and we found an article in his bedroom about the incident in Boston with Gideon which immediately led Gideon to talk to him.

From the interview Gideon seemed to think that Heather Woodland was still alive but also that there was a second killer.

To get a name from Richard me and Hotch decided to speak to his mother.

"Mrs Lesman, I don't think we have the right guy, I think we might be looking for a friend of Richard's." Aaron began, passing her a cup of tea.

"Richard didn't have many friends." She croaked shakily.

"Try to think of anyone at all, someone who might have called for him a few times or even just once. Maybe he went out to meet someone frequently that you didn't really know?" I asked.

"There's got to be someone." Aaron encouraged.

"Well, I don't know, Richard doesn't tell me these things." She touched a hand to her lips in thought. "There was someone… Charlie, I think his name was." Her brow creased as she tried to remember. She gave a wave of her hand, "Oh, listen to me rambling on. I really can't help you."

"That's okay, anything you remember, no matter how insignificant, could be important." I smiled.

"You're a very sweet young girl; I wish Richard had brought home a girl like you. You would've kept him from all this nonsense I'm sure."

"Thank you, Mrs Lesman, that's very nice of you." I smiled, flattered.

"You've been very helpful. If you remember anything else be sure to let us know." Aaron nodded and stood up to leave, to see if Elle and Gideon had anything on the name; they had been recording the interview from another room.

"Thank you, Mrs Lesman." I followed Aaron.

"You're quite welcome, dears." She called after us.

"You get anything?" Hotch asked Elle when we walked in.

"Charles Linder, his cell mate." She replied.

"Hotchner, I want you to go back to his house and help Morgan." Gideon ordered.

"Which one?" We both asked at the same time.

He pointed to me. "Got it." I nodded and left.

I walked into Lesman's bedroom to find Morgan and some other agents going through stacks of CD's.

"Where do you want me?" I asked.

They all looked up. "Help us go through his CD's; we want to know which one he plays the most. We need to get inside his head to figure out the password for his computer."

"Okay." I sat on the floor opposite him and he handed a pile of cases which I proceeded to go through. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence I decided to speak. "How long's this gonna last?"

"What?" He replied without looking up.

"The cold shoulder, I mean we're going to be working in close proximity and I'm trying to get to know my team so right now I'm thinking you're either hot tempered but quick to get over it or… you're being a little bitch who needs to get over himself."

His head snapped up.

"Kidding." I raised my hands defensively. "Seriously though?"

"I just don't want to lose this girl. It's not just this job that's important to me; it's the people we help." He sighed.

"I get that." I nodded.

"I'm back." Reid announced stepping into the room, completely breaking the moment me and Morgan were having.

"We can see that." I laughed.

"I'm gonna search the attic again." Morgan stood up. "We can talk about this later."

"Sure."

"Reid can help you with the CD's."

Reid joined me on the floor and continued to go through Morgan's pile while Morgan went upstairs. After a while I found an empty case. "Reid, is there a loose CD lying around anywhere?"

"I don't think so." He looked round. "Why?"

I held up the case. "Empty."

"Which means he's been playing it."

"Uh huh."

We went upstairs to Morgan and found the missing Metallica CD in Lesman's laptop. From this we decided the password must be sandman, the name of a song on the album. It was right. What came on the screen was a live feed of Heather Woodland in a cage somewhere, tape over her eyes and gagged. Derek called Gideon immediately. "Heather's alive." He spoke down the phone. "Because we're watching her." He replied to something Gideon said while walking back over to us and the laptop.

From watching, Reid noticed that the light bulb above Heather was swinging. She must've been on the ocean. Morgan rang Hotch and this got the location out of Lesman. Gideon and Elle were heading there now. As I watched the images progress the UnSub became part of them.

"Morgan, he's inside."

"Reid, get Elle on the phone." Morgan ordered.

"She's fighting him."

As Morgan spoke to Elle on the phone me and Reid watched Heather fight. She ran out of the room and we lost sight of both of them, at the same time Morgan came off the phone.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I have no idea."

We continued to stare at the screen intently just in case. After a few minutes Morgan spoke. "We should go to the dock."

"Yeah." I agreed as we all rushed for the door.

It turned out that Gideon saved the girl and Elle killed the UnSub.

"Still think Gideon was wrong?" I asked Morgan as Heather was being loaded into the ambulance.

"He saved that girl's life. That's good enough for me. Look, I should apologise about how I've treated you the past couple of days."

"Forget about it. You were stressed, you wanted to save the victim and we did. That's good enough for me."

"I knew I liked you." He grinned and put his arm around me.

"What are you smiling about?" Reid asked as he came over.

"Come on." I laughed and put my arm around him.

A couple of hours later found us on the plane back home. Reid was asleep while Hotch and Gideon had a whispered conversation down the other end of the plane.

"Hey, Katie, I need a name for you. Since you didn't particularly like Blondie, what do you have in mind?" Morgan asked with a relaxed smile.

"How about Brooke?"

"Brooke?" He repeated.

"It's my middle name and I'll answer to it, as appose to Blondie." I joked.

"Brooke it is." Morgan sat back in his chair and closed his eyes for sleep.

I looked out the window and relaxed back into my seat with a satisfied smile at catching at least one of the scumbags on the streets today.

"When you look long into and abyss, the abyss looks into you" – Friedrich Neitzsche.

**What do you think? Review?**


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